eslHQ

eslHQ (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/)
-   English Questions (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/)
-   -   the use of SUCH (http://www.eslhq.com/forums/esl-forums/english-questions/use-such-46098/)

InJen Apr 28th, 2012 08:49 am

the use of SUCH
 
In the FREE LUNCH item of the new word supplement list of Oxford 4th:

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

I think this sentence might be wrong, because THING is a countable noun, and an indefinite article should be inserted before THING;

Apart from this, I, when searching words in online dictionaries, often see this:no such word;

I am not a native English speaker, and so not qualified to challenge Oxford 4th.

Could anyone tell me what's wrong with my statement?

susan53 Apr 30th, 2012 03:35 pm

Re: the use of SUCH
 
You don't need an article with singular nouns, when you have a quantifier such as no, each, or every. Compare these sentences :

We have a slight chance of succeeding.
We have every chance of succeeding.
They took each chance they were offered.
We don't have a chance of succeeding.
We have no chance of succeeding.

I never miss a free lunch.
I go to every free lunch which I'm invited to.
There is such a thing as a free lunch - but it's rare.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.

InJen Apr 30th, 2012 09:09 pm

Re: the use of SUCH
 
thank you~~


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:41 pm.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2